Preparing for 2019 Gardening (PHASE1)

I have never grown carrots, parsnips, leeks or strawberries, had poor results with potatoes in 2017. So I am preparing for 2019 by sowing some seeds and potatoes. I sowed :

1-carrot-chantenary royal

2- carrot- rainbow mix

3-carrot-red sky

4-purple sun

5-parsnip

6--leek

7-strawberry seeds from store - California

8-strawberry seeds from store - Mexico

Step 1: Preparing the Seeds

I prepared the seeds by

2018/11/08 soaking them in water for a day.picture 1

2018/11/09 i placed the seeds in numbered paper towel for two days.picture 2

2018/11/11. I placed them in numbered seed starters and put them in my little seed starter green house, has heating pad.picture 3 to 6.

2018/11/15 some seeds were sprouting picture 7

no activity on strawberry seeds

picture eight is two cups with one potato each from farmer market, still had dirt on them

Step 2: Plants Continue to Grow

From 2018/11/23 to 2018/12/02 plants continue to grow are too leggy

2018/12/02 to test the effects of transplanting the seedlings from the seed starters to bigger containers I transplant the seedlings picture 4

2018/12/04 picture 5 no signs of stress due to transplanting the plants a

2018/12/06 picture 6 as i have only one parsnip plant i decide to sow some more in two cups.

2018/12/06 picture 7 shows the seedlings, the big green pot has a piece of potato with two shoots, the small cup has one potato with one single shoot. .

No activity on strawberries.

Step 3: The Potato Cutting

On 2018/12/02 still no activity on potatoes or strawberries.Disappointment or I have no patience. I go to the cold room to get some potatoes for dinner and to my surprise I find a couple of potatoes with shoots. I take them to my plant experiment. The larger of the two potatoes has to small shoots growing.I cut the section with the shoots out and leave the cut to dry for several days. The other small potato with one shoot I plant in a cup.

pictures 1-4 are of cutting being planted on 2018/12/04, the shoots were covered with soil

pictures 5-6 are of cutting on 2018/12/12

pictures 7-8 are of cutting on 2018/12/14

once again the shoot on the cutting came through the soil

Step 4: The Small Potato, Parsnip, and Leek

picture 1 is of small potato in cup on 2018/12/06

picture 2 is of small potato shoot on 2018/12/14, picture 3 is shoot covered with soil

picture 4 is of the only parsnip to germinate

picture 5 is of one leek

Step 5: Successes and Failures

Successes are of getting the carrots and leeks to germinate even though they are very leggy, will solve that in PHASE2. Have the potato cutting shoot coming through the soil twice, as well as the potato in the cup has come through once.

The failures are the strawberries and parsnips. Have acquired strawberry seeds from a seed supplier variety Alpine and Wild. I was informed by the vendor that they take from 4 to 6 weeks to germinate depending on the temperature. Will take that into account in PHASE2. As for the parsnips the issue will be addressed in PHASE2.

After all if I can grow a 2 pound tomato in a 5 gallon pail, parsnips should be a cinch.

Will post PHASE2 when I start it as well as my 2018 gardening experiences.